Detra Shaw-Wilder – Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

Recommended both by Sen. Marco Rubio and Florida House Democrats, Coral Gables attorney Detra Shaw-Wilder has now been nominated to fill the last vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Background

Detra Shaw-Wilder received a B.S. from the University of Florida in 1990 and a J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law in 1994. After graduation, Shaw-Wilder joined Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton, where she became Managing Partner in 2015 and General Counsel since 2017.

History of the Seat

Shaw-Wilder has been nominated for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to replace Judge Robert Scola, who took senior status on October 31, 2023. Shaw-Wilder was the only candidate that was simultaneously recommended for the federal bench in 2021 by Senator Marco Rubio and Florida House Democrats, but was not nominated in the 3 judge batch put forward in late 2023.

Legal Career

Shaw-Wilder has spent her entire legal career at the Coral Gables firm Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton where she currently serves as General Counsel. While at the firm, Shaw-Wilder has represented limousine drivers in a suit for overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. See Vidinliev v. Carey Intern. Inc. 581 F. Supp. 2d 1281 (N.D. Ga. 2008). Shaw-Wilder also represented three law firms in obtaining a large judgment against two attorneys for impropriety in settling various lawsuits. See Kane v. Stewart Tilghman Fox & Bianchi, 197 So. 3d 137 (Fla. App. 4th Dist. 2016).

Shaw-Wilder has also handled a number of federal appeals, including persuading the Eleventh Circuit to reverse a default judgment against Costa Rican corporation Parrot Bay Village, for lack of jurisdiction over the defendant. See Oldfield v. Pueblo de Bahia Lora, S.A., 558 F.3d 1210 (11th Cir. 2009).

Political Activity

Shaw-Wilder has a number of political donations to her name, all to Florida Democrats, including former federal judicial nominee Mary Barzee Flores during her run for Congress.

Overall Assessment

The last three nominations put forward to the Southern District with the support of Florida senators have sailed to confirmation. As of now, there is little reason to believe that Shaw-Wilder’s experience will be any different.

570 Comments

  2. Ethan's avatar

    Still three vacancies in the Middle District of Florida without a pending nominee (two in Jacksonville and one in Tampa). I think there’s a good chance that any nominee for Charles Wilson’s vacancy on the 11th circuit will be part of a package deal for those seats.

    Like many other red states, I expect current Magistrate Judges to be the frontrunners:

    1. For Jacksonville, it wouldn’t surprise me if Magistrate Judges Patricia Barksdale (born c. 1971) and Philip Lammens (born c. 1977), whose nominations stalled under Obama, are renominated.
    2. For Tampa, I’d keep an eye on Magistrate Judges Anthony Porcelli (born c. 1971) and Sean Flynn (born c. 1978).

    All four are former AUSAs.

    Liked by 1 person

    • star0garnet's avatar

      Lammens is currently based in Ocala. It’s already effectively a one-judge division serving a million people. It would be interesting to see if they’d choose to elevate it to a district judge-level duty station. If not Ocala, I could easily see Orlando getting one of Jville’s seats. Would help the senators solidify Jville as a conservative courthouse (not that that’s a good thing) if they get a Republican seated there.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Dequan's avatar

      I could definitely see one if not both of the Obama nominees you mentioned getting the nomination. I believe Trump nominated one or two of the more conservative Obama nominees so it would be poetic justice if they also got their just due as well. They both are still young enough to be good picks.

      Like

  4. derickjohnson's avatar

    I want to start off by saying that I apologize that I cannot remember who gave us a list of hopefuls for each District so I can give them credit for the work.

    For the 11th Circuit some names were:

    Lynn Palmer Baily (born c. 1971), Merritt McAlister (born 1980), Andrew Adler (1982), Nicole Mariani (1980), Anna Neill (1977), Osvaldo “Oz” Vazquez (1980) Alec Fitzgerald (1967), and Amanda Arnold (1976).

    Are any of these still viable candidates for nomination in your opinion?

    Liked by 2 people

      • Hank's avatar

        Yep, I’m surprised/disappointed that Unite Here (the parent org of the Culinary Workers Union union) isn’t listed—I see the AFL-CIO though on the list though, and the Culinary Worker Union is affiliated with that. I suspect that unions aren’t as big on Mangi given his corporate background—which is fair, but shortsighted given that any replacement nominee would likely be more conservative than Mangi.

        @Frank the letter is titled “Dear Senator,” so I would guess that it was circulated to senators, not the WH. I agree that it isn’t likely to be effective at this point—if only they had done this right after the SJC hearing (or any time before Cortez Masto and Rosen publicly announced their opposition).

        The more high-profile this gets, the trickier it becomes for the WH to withdraw the nomination. Given the tight timeframe to nominate/confirm a replacement, I suspect that if the WH doesn’t withdraw Mangi by the end of June, they won’t do it at all and will be hoping that he confirmed in the lame duck.

        Fingers crossed for nominees tomorrow, even though it’ll be unlikely.

        Liked by 2 people

      • Hank's avatar

        @Frank no problem – you’re right that the article implied that the letter was directed at the WH. I’ve noticed that a lot of articles covering judicial nominations (and the judiciary in general) aren’t super careful with the details, and despite its name, I don’t think The Hill covers nominations much (until they become more newsworthy/high-profile).

        Liked by 2 people

    • Ryan J's avatar

      A bit delayed response since I’ve been so busy but I read the article from Berner’s son and I really liked it. From that article, I now know that judicial nominees on the same panel do indeed meet each other and get a chance, even if brief, to chit chat with one another. This allowed the younger Berner-Kadish to discuss not only what kind of judge he thinks Mangi would be like but what kind of person Mangi is. With the inconsistent behavior of GOP Senators (particularly Sen. Kennedy), a lot of it comes down to luck — in some cases, the GOP temporarily fools me on how liberal a nominee is (such as when they get Manchin to vote against a conventional candidate or unexpectedly support a nominee who is quite liberal).

      It’s probably too late now, but Dem insiders should study what went wrong with Mangi’s nomination to ensure that they don’t make the same mistake again. Perhaps, in 10 or 15 years Mangi could be renominated when conditions are more favorable for him (Ronnie White was rejected in 1999 and confirmed in 2014).

      Liked by 1 person

  8. Mitch's avatar

    I have a novel idea of one of the Middle Florida vacancies. U.S Attorney Markenzy Lapointe could be nominated for one of them. I realize that he’s from Miami and is in the Southern District, but perhaps the Biden Administration could choose him as a favor to Marco Rubio, in exchange for Rubio’s support for Detra Shaw-Wilder.

    Such an arrangement would be unusual, but not unheard of.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dequan's avatar

      I don’t think Biden would have nominated Detra Shaw-Wilder if he didn’t get preapproval from Rubio & Scott already. Besides with the ages of the judges on the SDFL, I doubt we would get past the next midterms before the next vacancy. Hell, we might get another one before the end of THIS year. Even in a Republican majority senate Markenzy Lapointe could get confirmed. No need for him to rent a U-Haul to get the nomination… Lol

      Like

    • Hank's avatar

      I think it is unheard of—has a US Attorney for one district ever been nominated to be a district judge of a different district? District judges are usually selected from prominent/well-connected lawyers within that community, and I imagine that a lot of lawyers in Orlando/Tampa are advocating for one of their own, not someone from Miami.

      If Rubio were that big a fan of Lapointe, Lapointe would’ve gotten one of the district-court vacancies (the Wilson vacancy on CA11 only happened this year, so I doubt Lapointe himself was biding his time or something). Supporting someone for a 4-year (if not less) appointment as US Attorney does not always translate to support for a lifetime appointment, especially (1) to a circuit seat, and (2) to a judgeship in another part of the state.

      If it’ll be a Black candidate, Embry Kidd seems more likely (but still not likely). The problem is that I see no world in which Rubio/Scott return blue slips for someone in their early 40s, so the WH would have to ignore the R senators to get him through. I doubt that’s going to happen when they’ve been able to reach consensus on the district-court nominees, so I’m lowering my expectations and anticipating someone bland and uncontroversial like Roger Handberg.

      Liked by 1 person

  9. keystone's avatar

    Anyone know much about Erik Matheney? He’s on @ethan’s list but I haven’t heard too much about him.

    As far as I can tell, he’s a partner at Shutts & Bowen in Tampa. He’s 56-ish. He’s black. Sounds like he was an AUSA maybe in the Clinton years.

    I haven’t found too much about the types of cases he handles or his leanings.

    He has a couple of donations to dems. His wife has a few more to dems, including Biden, Doug Jones, etc.

    He vaguely sounds like a Dem but it also looks like William Pryor appointed him to the 11th Circuit Lawyers Advisory Committee (whatever that is).

    https://www.shutts.com/news-Erik-Matheney-Appointed-to-Eleventh-Circuit-Lawyers-Advisory-Committee

    I can’t get a good handle on him or whether he might be a good negotiated nom for the Circuit seat.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hank's avatar

      @keystone good find – I haven’t done a deep dive on him, but he seems plausible from what you mention. Rubio/Scott would probably return blue slips for a mid-50s corporate lawyer, so it’s a question of whether the WH would want someone younger/more liberal/etc.

      On that point, are any of Wilson’s clerks lawyers who work in Tampa? This quote from Wilson seems to suggest that he at least wants to be replaced by a diverse candidate (and perhaps has someone in mind):

      “I’ll be 70 years old in a few months and it just seemed like the perfect time for me to step aside and make room for someone younger to have an opportunity to serve on the Eleventh Circuit,” Wilson said in an interview. “The court benefits from having people with different life experiences and backgrounds, so I would expect that will be taken into consideration.”

      Article is here: https://www.law.com/dailybusinessreview/2024/02/01/federal-circuit-judge-takes-senior-status-sets-high-bar-for-nominee/

      Liked by 2 people

      • keystone's avatar

        All credit for finding him goes to @ethan.

        If WH wants to play nice and go for blue slips someone like Matheney or US Attorney Roger Handberg would be decent candidates.

        Personally, I’m still betting of the WH going for a younger non controversial candidate who easily clear 50 Dem votes. I’m leaning toward Stacie Harris

        Liked by 1 person

    • Ethan's avatar

      @keystone,

      I don’t have any information beyond what you and I have found but I do think he could be a good compromise nominee for Wilson’s seat if Rubio and Scott refuse to turn in blue slips for district court vacancies if Embry Kidd is the nominee for the Eleventh Circuit.

      I wouldn’t read too much into Pryor appointing him to the Eleventh Circuit Lawyers Advisory Committee, as I believe the Chief Judge of each circuit appoints of all of the members.

      Liked by 3 people

  10. Zack's avatar

    Saw someone make a good point on a twitter feed that FL’s senators might have finally come around on judges to a degree because there were six judicial emergencies in FL’s district courts and it got to a point where even they couldn’t keep ignoring that (though I’m sure they wish they could.)

    Liked by 2 people

  11. Ben's avatar

    After weeks of checking the future judicial vacancies page, I see we finally have a new addition and it’s… NY North’s David Hurd again. Listed as date TBD. We’ll see if he actually means it this time.

    Liked by 4 people

  12. Mitch's avatar

    For one of the vacancies on the Middle District of Florida, I think Magistrate Judge Monte Richardson is a name to watch. I’ve read on a site called The Robing Room that he’s not a good judge, but I don’t know how credible that site is.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Zack's avatar

    Safe bet the nominee for Hurd this time will be from the Utica area.
    Given that, I expect Anthony Brindisi to be given another look.
    Not everyone’s cup of tea but I have a feeling he’s going to be the type of nominee we’ll be getting this year.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. star0garnet's avatar

    Well, a happy retirement to the oldest active district judge. (Still three older on the Fed Circuit.) This leaves David Carter (CD CA), Leonie Brinkema (ED VA), and Richard Stearns (D MA) as the oldest blue state Dem district appointees. They’re among the last 13 (14 with Hurd) non-senior Silent Gens on the district bench. Remarkably, CD CA has five of them, and none of those five are among the three retiring in the coming months.

    Liked by 1 person

    • keystone's avatar

      Of that list, I think Stearns is most likely to go senior next. For a long time, I said I thought Stearns and Saris, the last two Clinton Mass judges, would go senior once the queue cleared. Saris announced very shortly after Julia Kobich’s confirmation. I think if they can exopodite, the current Mass nom, we’d see Stearns announce shortly thereafter. I think Kevin Prussia, a favorite former Stearns clerk, would be a good successor.

      I’m less bullish on the other two going senior anytime soon.

      Liked by 3 people

  15. Dequan's avatar

    I remember at some point in the second half of last year I wrote I expected a at lest a couple more CDCA vacancies before the end of this year. Padilla & Butler really should have a running list for that district. We definitely could see another vacancy even this year.

    Liked by 2 people

  18. Jamie's avatar

    Florida Supreme Court has both upheld Florida’s abortion bans and narrowly allowed both the abortion and marijuana referenda on the ballot. Unfortunately it takes 60% to pass a referenda. It will be close to get to 60%.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/01/florida-supreme-court-abortion-ruling-00150006

    Two of the three anti-democratic justices on the Florida SC are also up for retention. It only takes 50% to knock them off. There should be a coordinated campaign to vote these justices off the court. It would be a signal to these far right activist judges in the future.  

    Liked by 2 people

  19. Jamie's avatar

    Jacky Rosen appears to have raised a ton of money and is going on the offensive. I don’t think she’ll miss the donations withheld because of her opposition to Mangi. 

    And good because while she might be a pain in the ass at times, she’s mostly a decent vote. The seat is considered a Tossup, but I’d be surprised if Rosen loses unless Trump wins handily. (in which case we have much bigger problems).

    https://www.axios.com/2024/04/04/jacky-rosen-nevada-senate-ad-campaign

    Liked by 4 people

  21. Zack's avatar

    @Jamie,
    The reality is in NV it’s going to be her or a Republican and yes, there is a difference when it comes to who gets on the courts, what legislation can be blocked or pass etc. and that matters.
    I realize some folks want her to lose but the reality is she’ll be fine.
    The folks who will suffer from having Republicans in charge won’t be which is why I’m rooting for her and all other Democrats up this year (especially Sherrod Brown.)

    Liked by 2 people

    • Dequan's avatar

      That depends a lot on the election results.as well as if the court that currently has a vacancy in the same duty station. For instance, if it’s a court that currently has no vacancies, I would say any vacancy announced after May won’t get filled this year regardless. If it’s a court that currently has vacancies such as CDCA or SDCA, you probably could get a vacancy announced by early July & still get a nominee that was previously looked at for one for the current vacancies.

      If both Biden & senate Dems win this November, then there will be no rush to confirm nominees in the lame duck. That would throw all guesses out the window but of course I would be happy about that.

      Liked by 2 people

    • star0garnet's avatar

      Well, nominees with a hearing on November 13 should be voted to the floor on December 5. To have a hearing, they’d likely need to be announced by October 16. Beyond that, it gets murkier. Any new vacancy will likely be the top priority of the vetting staff. With that said, we’ve only had four vettings so far under Biden that took less than a month:

      Merriam, district –> circuit, 18 days
      Cunningham, private sector –> circuit, 21 days
      KBJ, circuit –> SCOTUS, 26 days
      Gelpi, district –> circuit, 27 days

      Our quickest district vettings have been:

      Pan, DC superior –> district, 31 days
      Bulsara, magistrate –> district, 34 days
      Martinez, magistrate –> district, 36 days

      In the cases of Bulsara and Martinez, the vetting staff was under a time crunch and it’s the current staff, making them a pretty good reference point. So a magistrate or district judge could likely be vetted in less than 40 days. If there is a suitable magistrate or district judge waiting in the wings and there are either no senators or Dem senators are willing to bypass their normal process, a vacancy could be announced as late as the first week of September and be filled if the counsel’s got all the ducks in a row. The other potentially expedited vettings would ironically be among the longer vettings; those that were vetted for a previous vacancy but passed over, like Wang, Crews, and Sarah Russell.

      The next fastest group would likely be from lists of recommendations submitted by senators for previous vacancies but not previously vetted by the WH. Many courts that have had a vacancy in the past two years would have potential candidate(s). A mid-August announcement may be sufficient in that case. If the WH has a suggestion that the senators like or vice versa, they’d also fit into this category.

      If senators insist on an application process, the length of time needed will vary greatly by state. The quickest we’ve a Dem state district court nominee go from application to vetting is 18 days in the case of Lawless, but she’s an extreme outlier. Senators from CO, CT, DE, GA, IL, MA, MD, MN, NV, NJ, and NM have gotten nominees from application to vetting in under two months. In those cases, an announcement by late June would probably be necessary, and that relies on the senators having a quick deadline and being conscientious about the timeline. Other states’ senators could meet those requirements, but it’s less likely. We’re already expecting six or seven more nominees from the CA senators; hopefully they can not only meet that expectation but have identified a surplus of options.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Dequan's avatar

        My biggest worry would be the SJC quorum rules. If either Biden or the senate Dems lose in November, I am not familiar with the SJC rules on holding a hearing and/or executive meetings with a certain number of the minority present. If Republicans unilaterally decided to boycott past election Day in either of the scenarios I mentioned above, does anybody know the SJC rules? I remember Democrat tried it with ACB but Republicans had a 2 seat larger majority at the time.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Dequan's avatar

        And to be honest, if Republicans really did boycott hearings & meetings after the election, I’m not even sure there is anything in the rules that says nominees actually have to have a hearing in the first place. I mean if they want to play hardball & refuse a quorum for a hearing, what’s to stop Schumer from just saying ok screw the hearing, Biden nominated them on Wednesday, let’s start the 4-hour process now instead of a hearing anyway. Of course, all 50 Dems would have to be on board since we know Manchin wouldn’t be. I doubt THIS Democrat Paty would play hardball that hard, but just a thought if the worst-case scenario arose.

        Liked by 1 person

      • tsb1991's avatar

        I know it’s a different circumstance, but Democrats in the 2014 lame duck in the final weeks of their Senate majority got numerous district court nominees out of committee and confirmed before the Senate left for the end of the Congress. Not sure what SJC meetings were held in the 2006 lame duck but there were still judges being confirmed in that lame duck with Republicans on their way out of Senate control. Republicans as we know I believe held hearings, voted out nominees, and confirmed judges when Trump was a lame duck in 2020 (although his First Circuit nominee never got a committee vote). I’d be surprised if quorums became an issue.

        I don’t think they’d be able to do a discharge either, the majority-vote discharge was only a thing in the last Congress with a 50-50 Senate and tied Senate committees (and might have only applied to nominees whose vote deadlocked, not any nominee sitting in committee). Any committee discharge typically requires 60 votes or unanimous consent.

        For that NDNY judge going senior, didn’t we have a nominee lined up until the judge withdrew his intent to go senior? If so, that nominee could make it into a possible batch next week.

        The final Senate pro forma session of this break was Thursday, so now we await the Monday return. If the VP is needed for any reason next week she’d need to be in town at a minimum Wednesday and Thursday (if any cloture motions are sent on the party-line nominees Monday or Tuesday).

        Liked by 1 person

      • Dequan's avatar

        @tsb1991

        Correct, Jorge Rodriguez was the nominee last time for the NDNY. He would have been really good. The problem is since then, he has had a controversy & was chastised by one of the judges in that court (Link below). 

        With the roadblocks we have seen Biden nominees run into recently, I see almost no chance they would risk nominating Rodriguez again. Sadly Hurd being a piece of crap & withdrawing the first time will likely lead to a bland nominee instead the second time around. 

        (https://www.uticaod.com/story/news/2022/12/01/former-ny-federal-judge-candidate-in-hot-water-over-past-case/69685770007/)

        Like

    • Joe's avatar

      For a blue state district judge? Probably Sept 15 or so.

      A nominee who has a hearing on November 13 would be able to be confirmed prior to the end of the year if the senate is focused on judges. They’d need to have their WH announcement by October 16 to make that happen.

      Obviously the sooner the better, though.

      Liked by 1 person

  24. Zack's avatar

    @Dequan,
    I agree with you on Anthony Brindisi.
    I know some folks didn’t like him in Congress but he is far better then the horrible Claudia Tenney was and some of his votes simply reflected the area he represented in the State Senate and Congress.
    I will also say that before she became Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand was more conservative at times then Brindisi was as a House Rep and look at her now.
    Having said that, yea, those votes will likely get no votes from Democrats IF he’s nominated, let’s hope it’s someone else.

    Liked by 1 person

    • keystone's avatar

      Come on. Your complaint against Brindisi  is that the NRA gave him a good rating 8 years ago? When he was a state assembly seat in a rural upstate district. Really?

      I mean, Bernie Sanders had a 100% rating from the NRA for many year.

      What you’re failing to mention is that, 2 years later, the NRA also gave Brindisi an F rating and campaigned hard against him against him when he ran for Congress. Also, Gabby Giffords endorsed him in that election.

      If you wanna tell me you don’t like him because he isn’t Dale Ho, that I get. If you wanna tell me that he’s bad because he’s actually right wing, you gotta show me more evidence.

      Liked by 2 people

      • Dequan's avatar

        Actually none of the above. I would want another nominee because there has to be plenty of attorneys in their 40’s (Or even late 50’s) who you don’t even have to have the discussion about them being conservative for any years of their profession. Jorge Rodriguez was one of them.

        I don’t think Brindisi is a conservative. I also don’t think Irma Ramirez, J Childs, or Florence Pan are conservatives. I just think we could have done better in each case for what I am looking for, which is a young progressive in blue seats. They don’t have to be as progressive as Dale Ho, but I surely don’t want to have to waste time debating what years they were & were not conservative… Lol

        Liked by 2 people

      • Dequan's avatar

        @Frank

        Federal judges are nominated by the president & confirmed by the senate. All 101 of them are voted in by we the people. If they want our vote they need to earn it. When it comes to myself, federal judges are the most important voting issue for me. So to earn my vote, a purity tests is what I want just like those on the right demand. Republican politicians get it. Democrats thankfully are starting to get it.

        Liked by 1 person

  25. Zack's avatar

    @Keystone, it’s amazing that she managed to be put on a Circuit court because by the Reagan/Bush Sr years, the process of putting only far hacks on the courts had begun.
    Souter and Rovner are reminders the process hadn’t been fine tuned yet.

    Liked by 1 person

  26. keystone's avatar

    I can’t stop rollin my eyes right now, but i’m gonna let it go.

    I think it’s unlikely that Brindisi would get the nom right now since he was just sworn in two weeks ago to a new role as a New York Court of Claims judge.

    That being said, who do we think are the names for the Hurd seat? Albany based names need not apply.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dequan's avatar

      He seemed pretty Hell bent on the duty station staying in Utica last time. Of course, that only became an issue after he found out his successor’s last name was Rodriguez. Something tells me if his replacement’s last name doesn’t end in a “Z” this time, Hurd will all of a something not care about duty station anymore.

      Like

    • keystone's avatar

      Oh… that’s interesting. A few posts back, someone mentioned that Gee becomes eligible for senior status on Jan 4 and there was a bit of discussion about whether she might announce early so that Biden could get a replacement confirmed. Now that she’s Chief, it makes me think she’ll be sticking around for a while.

      Liked by 2 people

  30. Ryan J's avatar

    I also read a couple days ago that the judges on the Northern District of Texas are resisting changes to the single judge divisions. Not surprising given that 10 of the 11 judges (all of them except for Sam Lindsay) are Republican appointees, and at least 5 of them (Reed O’Connor, Matthew Kacsmaryk, Mark Pittman, Brantley Starr, & James Wesley Hendrix) are far-right hacks.

    Liked by 2 people

  31. Zack's avatar

    I have heard Kelsey Shannon’s name brought up as a possible nominee for a judgeship down the line in Syracuse but that is a far ways off as Brenda Sannes just became chief judge and George W Judge Glenn T. Suddaby is unlikely to take senior status under a Democratic president.
    Would love to see Kimberly Finnegan as the nominee but she’s not based in Utica.
    Have to see if Hurd still has an issue with that or as has been suggested, the last name of the previous nominee is what he was truly angry about.
    As for Brindisi, he has been a judge since Sept of 2022 on the New York Court of Claims so that doesn’t take him out of the running.
    Am looking into the magistrate judges/AUSA for the area since the chances are good a nominee could come from that pool as well.
    I will also say this to nominees overall, I know folks want young progressive nominees but I suspect as the election season heats up, the nominees are going to likely be more traditional (sitting judges, AUSA) then not.

    Liked by 1 person

    • keystone's avatar

      Why exactly do people think he rescinded bc of the nominee’s name? In the immortal words of Heather Gay, “receipts, proof, timeline”.

      I haven’t seen evidence to back up those claims and it feels like we’re just repeating rumors about someone until they become fact. That’s not far off from the playbook the Right uses against people like Mangi and I would hope the people on this site would rise above that.

      I’ve been looking through AUSAs and Oneida Country execs and it’s interesting because there are a lot of individuals who have been there for ~ 20/30 years who are prob too old for the judgeship, and then a bunch of very young people who have been there for ~ 1-3 years. Based on that, it does give the impression that they were trying to wind down the Utica station and, when Hurd made his ultimatum, they started to make efforts to start rebuilding, culminating in the statement the other day that the station would remain. All they had to do was make that commitment to keeping that station when Hurd originally announced. Instead, they announced an Albany judge, claimed he’d move to Utica, and I think Hurd was prob like, so they’ll shut down Utica in a year and just shift the station to Albany. I think Hurd was like, “Yeah, I see the game you’re playing”.

      BTW – another area to explore for noms is the Oneida Bar association. I took a quick look at their board and a lot of the folks there have scant online profiles, so would require a bit of digging.

      Liked by 4 people

      • Dequan's avatar

        @keystone

        The only problem with that theory is what’s stopping the administration from nominating a judge that would do the same thing this time around. If Hurd’s true worry was them relocating the Utica duty station, the administration or Schumer & Gillibrand could just have a back room deal with whoever they nominate this time to do the same after confirmed. Jorge Rodriguez committed to moving to Utica before Hurd withdrew. So that makes your argument less likely unless Hurd had some reason to think Rodriguez was more of a liar than Nicole Berner was who just made the same commitment & kept her word.

        Like

      • Frank's avatar

        Because Dequan, if they had that purity test there would (a) be no way to actually enforce it, and (b) it is much more more unlikely that someone with extensive ties to the Utica area would willingly agree to move out of Utica than someone without ties to the area, such as Rodriguez. I suspect if Rodriguez had been confirmed, the seat would’ve already have been moved back to Albany, which is exactly what Hurd didn’t want to happen.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Frank's avatar

        Completely agree with you here on this. Let’s not use the same type of reprehensible tactics the right wing uses. Whoever replaces Hurd will be far better than a FedSoc hack, so let’s appreciate he’s giving Biden a second chance to make a pick, which none of the recent rescinded retirees have done under the same president.

        Liked by 2 people

  32. keystone's avatar

    @dequan

    I present this statement which came out at the same time as Hurd’s announcement. It definitely seems as though there was a plan to shutter the Utica station and the lack of hiring ASUAs over years would support that.

    I’m not saying Rodriquez lied when he said he’d be stationed out of Utica. But if he did that and they shut down the Utica court, then what. He’s gotta go somewhere.

    https://www.romesentinel.com/news/brandon-williams-pirnie-building-utica/article_989d19fa-f1e7-11ee-a806-2bf77f3a42da.html

    I’m still waiting to hear the racism evidence.

    Liked by 2 people

      • keystone's avatar

        UTICA — On Tuesday, April 2, Rep. Brandon Williams R-22, Sennett, received a letter from Director Robert J. Conrad, Jr., of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, in response to previous correspondence regarding the Federal Courthouse in Utica, located in the Alexander Pirnie Federal Building.

        In March, it was brought to the attention of Rep. Williams by constituents and the Oneida County Bar Association that there may be plans to close the courthouse and relocate the District and Bankruptcy Courts within the Pirnie Federal Building.

        On March 19, Williams wrote to Conrad seeking a definitive answer to whether any such plans existed. Conrad’s April 2 response states that “ensuring access to justice is of paramount importance to the Judiciary” before specifying that there is no plan to close the courthouse:

        “As you reference in your letter, the Alexander Pirnie Federal Building currently houses both the district and bankruptcy court for the Northern District of New York, including two resident judges (one district and one bankruptcy). Accordingly, both courts are committed to maintaining a presence in Utica, and you will be pleased to know that there is no plan to close the courthouse,” the letter reads, in part.

        “I appreciate Director Conrad’s response to this inquiry. The courthouse provides a vital service to hundreds of thousands in the Utica-Rome area, and it is a great relief to know that both courts will remain in Utica — the courthouse isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon” Williams said.

        Liked by 1 person

  35. Zack's avatar

    IMO, Hurd did what he did to ensure the Utica courthouse didn’t shut down, even if it meant scuttling a nomination and postponing his retirement.
    Now that it’s over with, we’ll just have to wait and see whom is nominated.
    Think it will be a sitting judge or AUSA attorney but we’ll have to see.

    Liked by 1 person

  36. Gic's avatar

    Judge Patrick Radel, Bankruptcy Judge of the Northern District, NY District Court. He’s the father of CitrusTV political analyst Luke Radel.
    And it’s also another resident judge of the court.
    The Utica factor would be solved with it.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dequan's avatar

      Yea definitely next week needs a new batch so we don’t miss a hearing slot. We are down to 20 blue state district court & circuit court vacancies. That could fill four hearing slots so I hope we can get at least one more red state batch to fill a fifth slot as well.

      Like

  43. Mike S.'s avatar

    Just checked, still no ABA rating for Kanter. That is concerning… is this S.D.C.A. seat cursed or something, geez. I hope they have 2 candidates ready to go ASAP, if necessary.

    Anyone care to guess on nominees in the next match. Maine or NC noms for the 1st & 4th seats? How about the district court seat in Kansas, anyone hearing anything on that?

    Liked by 1 person

  44. star0garnet's avatar

    I looked into possible nominees for Hurd’s seat, and found 17 possibilities that met the following criteria:

    1. 35-60, practicing law for at least 12 years
    2. has a Democratic donation history
    3. based between Syracuse and Albany
    4. currently or formerly registered in the NDNY (except Dosanjh and Aumell)
    5. background makes them at least a somewhat feasible nominee
    6. no scandals that immediately popped up

    Lucille Rignanese, 60, Rome, public defender
    Michael Coluzza, 59, Utica, former county ADA
    Alma Lowry, 59, Clinton, environmental lawyer and professor
    Joseph Saba, 59, Utica, Utica City judge
    EW Garo Gozigian, 57, Cooperstown, trial lawyer
    Jolene Casatelli, 55, Utica, corporate lawyer
    Cindy Hendrickson, 54, Utica, legal aid attorney
    Grant Garramone, 54, Utica, Utica City judge
    Rajit Dosanjh, 53, Syracuse (lives in Hamilton), AUSA
    Christopher Pelli, 52, Utica, defense attorney
    Christina Reilly, 52, Utica, legal aid attorney
    Bob Bauer, 52, Utica, Oneida County judge
    Jeffrey Aumell, 50, Wampsville, county ADA
    Gustave DeTraglia III, 47, Utica, public defender
    Anthony Brindisi, 46, Utica, Court of Claims judge
    Willa Payne, 41, Oneonta, legal aid attorney
    Linda Bylica Lark, 41, Utica, trial lawyer

    Despite her age, my choice would be Lowry. Environmental lawyers and law professors are underrepresented on the bench, and she’s currently representing the Onondaga Nation. Dosanjh and Brindisi the most prominent among this group and have the most extensive donation histories. Payne has a promising background, but Oneonta’s a haul from Utica.

    Liked by 3 people

      • star0garnet's avatar

        The area seems to have a particularly old legal community. I repeatedly came across 80+ year old lawyers who seem to still be practicing. And the median age was probably around 63. On top of that, a large chunk of the middle-aged lawyers who live in the area (or claim to) are Syracuse or NYC lawyers who happen to have lakefront houses in Cazenovia. Excluding Syracuse and Albany practitioners makes for a legal community that predominantly practices bankruptcy, family, estate, or tax law, plus a bunch that specialize in Social Security, traffic tickets, etc.

        Liked by 1 person

  45. Zack's avatar

    I live near this area and I can attest to the fact that many younger folks leave for greener pastures which means the lawyers who are still here are often older or are only part time residents.
    It’s why the federal courthouse was on the chopping block until recently (and why Hurd held his ground.)
    I do think folks have to prepare themselves for the fact someone like Jeffrey Aumell or Anthony Brindisi will be the nominee.
    I don’t think we’re going to be seeing a lot more progressive nominees in an election year.

    Liked by 2 people

  46. Aiden's avatar

    Judge Kolar heard oral arguments for the first time this week.
    I will be keen to listen to the arguments and see perhaps some hints as to where his ideology sits.

    He is joined on the Panel by Easterbrook and Hamilton.
    I really hope he is to the left of Pryor and maybe even to the left of Hamilton.

    This leaves De Alba as the only one that hasn’t heard any cases yet.

    I wonder why it has taken so long. She also hasn’t ruled on any memorandum dispositions yet. Which Judges such as Johnstone did before they were scheduled for oral arguments.

    Liked by 1 person

  47. Jamie's avatar

    Just because the courthouse wasn’t closed doesn’t mean that a sitting district judge has to be placed there. If a replacement to Hurd is not in Utica, I’m sure the court will pick a magistrate (or two) in Utica. 

    Off your list, I’d go with Dosanjh. He’s by far the most qualified, and will force Hurd to show his hand. If it has to be someone from Utica, I’d go with the most qualified of the legal aid attorneys.

    Liked by 1 person

  48. Jamie's avatar

    Mangi isn’t going to be confirmed, now or after the election. We know it’s not happening due to Islamophobia. My guess is that the main reason why he hasn’t been withdrawn is that Biden wants his nomination as a political issue.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Frank's avatar

      Even though Brindisi doesn’t seem to be particularly liberal, I don’t think picking someone who was formally in Congress and has made statements which could be seen as partisan would make a lot of sense in an election year. I think one of the sitting judges would be a safer pick.

      Liked by 1 person

      • star0garnet's avatar

        The most recent congress –> federal courts confirmations have been:

        1969: George MacKinnon, D DC (rep 1947-1949)
        1966: Donald Russell, D SC, then 4th (sen 1965-1966)
        1965: Oren Harris, E/WD AR (rep 1941-1966)
        1963: Homer Thornberry, WD TX, then 5th (rep 1949-1963)

        Similar timeline for the most recent governors:
        1968: Otto Kerner, 7th (gov 1961-1968)
        1966: Donald Russell, D SC, then 4th (gov 1963-1965)

        A lot of the best judges of yesteryear took a spell in politics, so it’s honestly a shame that this has seemed to take them out of consideration for the past 50 years.

        Liked by 1 person

  50. Mitch's avatar

    If you want to go for confirmability, Joseph Saba might the way to go. He’s a former ADA who graduated from Le Moyne College in 1987 and Albany Law School in 1991. Very traditional background. Has supported some criminal justice reform, but not to the point of vilified as pro-criminal.

    Liked by 1 person

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